LOWTH, Dr William, a learned divine, the son of an apothecary, was born in London in 1661. He received his rudimentary education at a school in his native city; and having entered St John's College, Oxford, in 1675, became master of arts in 1683, and bachelor in divinity in 1688. Seeing his great worth and learning, Dr Mew, Bishop of Winchester, made him his chaplain, and conferred upon him, in 1696, a prebend in his own cathedral; and in 1699 the rectory of Buriton, in Hampshire. Louth now devoted his whole time to the duties of his profession. In his thorough study of theology, he ranged over the entire field of Latin and Greek literature, both ecclesiastical and profane, collecting many valuable notes, critical and philological. Some of these he afterwards contributed to Potter's edition of Clemens Alexandrinus, to Hudson's Jouphus, to Reading's Ecclesiastical Historians, and to the Bibliotheca Biblia. His advice, also, was largely used by Chandler, Bishop of Durham, while he was engaged in writing his Defence of Christianity, and his Vindication of the Defence. More admirable, however, than even his great erudition, was Louth's private character. His piety, ever active and benevolent, was the living embodiment of the earnest instruction he delivered from the pulpit. He died in 1732. One of his sons was Dr Robert Louth, the subject of the preceding article. Dr Louth's principal works are:—A Vindication of the Divine Authority and Inspiration of the Old and New Testaments, Oxford, 1692, 12mo, London, 1699; Directions for the Profitable Reading of the Holy Scriptures, London, 12mo, 1708, 1726; and Commentaries on the Prophets, 1765.